Friday, August 12, 2011

This past week, Eric, Hendric and I headed up north for a little R & R. I was just a little excited. This was our first vacation (other than our honeymoon) since we got married 5 years ago!

I might have overpacked for the 3 of us. For 6 days.

There was also a counter full of 9 grocery bags full of food and 4 bags of clothes. Yowza.

We took off to my parents' cabin at Mormon Lake and couldn't wait for some much needed family time.

I. Love. This. View.

The afternoon we got there, we just hung out a little and played...

...which of course for my child, means shoveling rocks.

The first full day we took a little hike.

Apparently, we like to play in the dirt.

We drove into Flag the next day to catch a movie, lunch, and a little ice cream.

How can you not love this face?

Later in the week, we did some more hiking. Eric taught Hendric a very important lesson on how to pick flowers for momma.

And more dirt on the face.

I am pretty sure this is one of my favorite. pictures. ever.

It is a perfect shot of who my child is. Contemplative. Discerning. All while carrying a giant stick so he can smash anything at any moment.

Our last full day, we took Hendric to fly his first kite. I thought he was going to go crazy with excitement.

Afterwards, Hendric was so wound up from all the fun that he had a harder time getting to sleep for his nap. So Eric went in to just lay down with him to see if it would help--even though he wasn't "really tired."

Monday, August 1, 2011

I woke up this morning and got (happy!) news from a friend and I my instant reaction was not pure joy. It was "Waahhh. Why not me?" Yeah. I know. I'm a pretty good friend.

Then I opened up an email and read this:

"As a wife and a mom, I consider myself the rudder of the attitude in my home. I can chart the course of attitude in my home in a good way or a bad way...I believe that in all of that, attitude is the biggest determining factor for whether our day goes well or doesn’t, whether we achieve our goals or fail, whether we get along as a family or bicker, and whether we enjoy each other’s company or we don’t. Attitude is something we can choose and when we are fully aware of that, we can choose to have a good one and that can make all the difference..."

The author went on to talk about an attitude of grattitude. I have heard that phrase 1000 times before in my life, but it wasn't until that moment that I realized how ungrateful I had become. I was letting someone else's fantastic news turn my heart bitter.

I can see it in my day to day. When my attitude is negative, my child seems more touchy, crankier. When I don't allow myself to see the good in my life, Eric and I seem to get in a hundred little arguments. Clearly something needed to change. And I was pretty sure it was me.

I had a serious heart-to-heart with God. It wasn't pretty. But it was necessary. I could feel the walls of discontentedness being stripped away and being replaced with pure thankfulness.

So my encouragement for you all is to not get lost in the "Why not's?" but saying "thank you" so much to your Creator for every. single. thing. It's a pretty freeing.